Major Prophets · Chapter 38 of 52
Jeremiah 38
Officials, enraged by Jeremiah's message to surrender, get the weak king's permission and lower the prophet into a muddy cistern to die. Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian eunuch, appeals to the king and rescues him with ropes and rags. Zedekiah secretly consults Jeremiah, who urges him to surrender to Babylon and live. Fearing ridicule, the king hesitates but promises not to kill the prophet, and Jeremiah remains in the prison court until the city falls.
What happens in Jeremiah 38
Officials hear Jeremiah telling the people that those who stay in the city will die but those who surrender to Babylon will live. Charging that he demoralizes the soldiers, they persuade Zedekiah to abandon him, and they lower Jeremiah by ropes into the miry cistern of Malchiah, where he sinks into the mud without water. Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch in the palace, hears of it and boldly tells the king these men have done evil; Jeremiah will starve.
The king orders him to take thirty men and lift the prophet out, and Ebedmelech uses old rags under the ropes to spare Jeremiah's arms as they draw him up. Zedekiah secretly meets Jeremiah and swears not to kill him. Jeremiah counsels that if he surrenders to Babylon's officers, he and the city will live; if not, the city will burn. The king, afraid of Judeans who defected, wavers but promises secrecy, and Jeremiah stays in the court of the prison.
Jeremiah 38 in context
This continues the final siege, around 588 to 587 BC, with Jerusalem's leadership fracturing. Jeremiah's counsel to surrender seemed treasonous to the war party, though it was God's word for survival. Zedekiah appears trapped between his hardline officials and the prophet, unable to lead.
Ebedmelech, a foreign court official, stands out as a rare figure of courage and compassion in a city given over to fear and cruelty.
Main themes of Jeremiah 38
Jeremiah 38 (KJV)
1Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying, 2Thus saith the LORD, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live. 3Thus saith the LORD, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it. 4Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. 5Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you. 6Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire. 7Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin; 8Ebedmelech went forth out of the king’s house, and spake to the king, saying, 9My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city. 10Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. 11So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. 12And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. 13So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison. 14Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the LORD: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me. 15Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me? 16So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life. 17Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house: 18But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. 19And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me. 20But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live. 21But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the LORD hath shewed me: 22And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back. 23So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire. 24Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die. 25But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the king said unto thee: 26Then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there. 27Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived. 28So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.
Verses to carry from Jeremiah 38
“Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.”Jeremiah 38:6
“So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.”Jeremiah 38:13
“But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.”Jeremiah 38:20
Christian typology
How Jeremiah 38 points to Jesus
Jeremiah lowered into the miry pit, left to die, and then drawn up alive resonates with the pattern the Psalms use for the righteous sufferer, one who cries from the deep pit and is lifted by God, language the New Testament ultimately connects to Christ's descent into death and rescue in resurrection. Jesus, the faithful witness, was also condemned by leaders who found his words intolerable and handed over to death, yet God raised him from the depths.
Ebedmelech, a Gentile who trusts God and acts to save, and is later promised deliverance for that trust, hints at the wider mercy the gospel extends to the nations. This connection is typological and thematic rather than a specific prediction, yet the pit and the lifting up richly foreshadow the death and rising at the heart of the gospel.
Questions about Jeremiah 38
Why did the officials want Jeremiah dead for telling people to surrender?
They saw his counsel as treason that weakened the soldiers' resolve during the siege. In their eyes he was undermining the defense and demoralizing the city. But Jeremiah spoke God's word: surrender was the path to survival, and resistance meant destruction. The conflict shows how God's counsel can look like betrayal to those committed to their own strategy, so they tried to silence the messenger rather than heed him.
What makes Ebedmelech's action so notable?
He was a foreigner and a eunuch, an outsider in Judah's court, yet he alone had the courage and compassion to confront the king and rescue Jeremiah from certain death. While Judah's own leaders acted with cruelty or cowardice, this Gentile risked himself for the prophet. Chapter thirty nine records that God promised to deliver him because he trusted the LORD, honoring faith found outside the expected circle.
Reflection
In a city full of powerful men, one outsider had the courage to do right, and God remembered his trust. You may feel unqualified or on the margins, but courage and compassion are never wasted before God. Whose deliverance might depend on your willingness to speak up when others stay silent?
A prayer from Jeremiah 38
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